


Incredibly Messy Things

by ShowMeAHero



Series: Easy To Begin, But Hard To End [4]
Category: Les Misérables (2012), Les Misérables - All Media Types, Les Misérables - Schönberg/Boublil, Les Misérables - Victor Hugo
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Babies, Brotps, Domestic, Except It's Not Their Baby, F/M, Fluff, Friendship, M/M, Romance, but that's okay, like a lot of brotps, shameless fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-31
Updated: 2013-01-31
Packaged: 2017-11-27 15:18:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/663494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShowMeAHero/pseuds/ShowMeAHero
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eponine has a date on the same weekend when she was supposed to watch her cousin, Victoire. Grantaire covers for her; Enjolras kind of gets roped into it a little bit.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Incredibly Messy Things

**Author's Note:**

> I used the following two prompts from imagineyourotp.tumblr.com as a basis: "Imagine your OTP being woken up in the middle of the night by their baby crying. Person A is usually the one to take care of the child during the night but Person B can see how tired they are and kisses their forehead before telling them to go back to sleep and getting up to take care of the baby." and "Imagine your otp taking care of a baby together after their friends and parents of the child died in an accident." I only used aspects of both, not too much of them, as you'll be able to tell.
> 
> This takes place towards the end of their senior year at university.  
> (April 30, 2015)

Enjolras threw the front door open and strode in, slamming the door behind him. He leaned against the closed door and ran a hand through his hair. His bright red jacket was wide open, his shirt unbuttoned at the top, his tie undone and hanging around his neck. He had his eyes closed when Grantaire started speaking.

“If you keep making loud noises, you’re going to scare her.” Grantaire’s tone was scolding, and it took Enjolras a few moments until he registered the words and opened his eyes. He found Grantaire seated in his usual armchair but, instead of a sketchpad in his lap, there was a small child. Her front was facing towards Grantaire; all Enjolras could see was a dark head of hair and a red dress with chubby arms and legs coming out of them. Grantaire was holding her arms above her head to help her stand in his lap. “How was the protest?”

“Did you kidnap a child?” Enjolras asked, pushing away from the door. Grantaire laughed.

“No.” Grantaire answered, looking back down at the child.

“Did some unfortunate girl finally find her child’s father?” Enjolras inquired instead, stepping closer. Grantaire looked up at him and made a face.

“No!” Grantaire replied, scandalized. “You think so little of me. This girl is far too young for that.”

“Well, she looks like yours from here.” Enjolras had come close enough that he could touch the girl, if he so wished to reach out and do so. “Are you drunk?”

“Of course not!” Grantaire looked slightly hurt. Enjolras raised an eyebrow.

“Am I drunk?” Enjolras asked, his voice only a little serious. Grantaire smiled.

“I’m not sure. Are you?” Grantaire retorted, a playful grin resting on his face.

Enjolras shook his head and motioned towards the girl. “May I ask what is going on here?”

“Eponine was supposed to babysit her little cousin here this weekend, for some reason or another, but she had a date or some other such nonsense, so I offered to take over for her.” Grantaire explained simply, helping the child to sit down in his lap instead of stand in it. Enjolras furrowed his brow.

“I’m glad you know so much about what’s going on. And you were the only person who could do this?” Enjolras asked. Grantaire sighed and turned the girl around.

“No, but could you say no to her?” Grantaire held her up, and Enjolras just frowned at her. “Oh, come on, she’s a child.”

“Children are incredibly messy things. They’re not really all that worthwhile until they’re at least Gavroche’s age.” Enjolras spoke as the girl made eye contact with him, blue eyes meeting blue eyes, and grinned, reaching for him.

“You’ve been saying that since you met Gavroche.” Grantaire grumbled, turning the girl back around. “Well, her name is Victoire, and she’s staying here until Eponine comes back tonight or tomorrow.”

“Tonight or tomorrow?” Enjolras turned to look at the clock. “It’s only four o’clock.”

“Then we have her for a bit longer, don’t we?” Grantaire said, more to Victoire than to Enjolras.

“She’s not going to answer you.” Enjolras pointed out. Grantaire looked up at him with no small amount of exasperation before he turned his attention back to Victoire. “How old is she, anyways?”

“She is four months old.” Grantaire answered, letting Victoire reach forward and pull on a wayward strand of his hair. “You can’t honestly tell me you never wanted children.”

“I never thought about it.” Enjolras assured him. He looked towards the hallway for a brief moment. “Listen, I’m going to shower-”

“Go, shower, nap, plan your next revolution-”

“- _protest_ -”

“-whatever, and I’ll make dinner for seven o’clock. How’s that?” Grantaire offered, standing up and situating the girl against his chest. Enjolras watched her for a moment before sighing.

“Yes, that sounds fine.” Enjolras leaned in and pressed a kiss to Grantaire’s lips before disappearing down the hallway. Grantaire looked down at Victoire, who looked right back up at him.

“He’s ridiculous, I know. He’s probably going to go shower and then read or yell at children to get off his lawn or something.” Grantaire said out loud to Victoire, who just continued to stare at him before she shoved her whole fist in her mouth. Grantaire nodded at her. “Yes, exactly. Let’s see what we’ll have for dinner, shall we, Victoire?”

* * *

A knock came at Enjolras’ door around five o’clock, when he was seated in his armchair with a thick volume of the French Revolution in his lap and a red pen with which to make corrections in his hand. Grantaire looked up from the kitchen counter to the door before looking expectantly at Enjolras. Enjolras nodded once, setting aside his book and pen to answer the door. He was surprised to find Cosette standing there.

“Marius said he would beat me here, but I doubted it.” Cosette said in lieu of a greeting. “He said to just come in, but I am more comfortable with knocking first.”

“If only the others had your courtesy, Cosette.” Enjolras told her, stepping aside to let her in. “Marius is coming, too, then?”

“Yes, he told me he was bringing Courfeyrac.” Cosette said, looking slightly confused. “I’m usually not the first one here.”

“If Marius is bringing Courfeyrac, Courfeyrac probably made him stop to pick up- well, everyone else.” Grantaire explained from the kitchen. Cosette turned, noticing him once he spoke up, and she immediately made a high cooing noise when she saw the baby sitting in the bouncy chair that Eponine had left behind with the rest of the child’s things. Victoire looked up at the blonde with wide eyes as she approached.

“Who is this lovely creature?” Cosette exclaimed, stroking the baby’s cheek lightly. 

“That is Victoire, Eponine’s cousin.” Grantaire informed her. Enjolras shut the front door and returned to his correcting of his textbook in the armchair. Cosette cooed again and pulled out her phone, texting rapidly.

“What are you doing?” Enjolras asked suspiciously, looking up from his textbook.

“Texting Marius. He’s so loud, I don’t want him to scare her when they come in.” Cosette explained, tucking her phone away and returning her attention to Victoire. Grantaire smiled and returned to his cooking. Enjolras looked exasperated for a moment before turning back to his textbook. He was angrily writing in the margins within seconds. Cosette and Grantaire switched off after a short amount of time, and she took up cooking dinner while he resumed keeping an eye on Victoire. It only took about three minutes before all the boys came barrelling through the door. Jehan closed the door behind him, but the startling sounds of the boys all coming in at once scared Victoire to tears. Grantaire looked at a loss, and Cosette came over to rescue him, scolding Marius while she did so and shoving him towards the kitchen.

“Here, hold her like this.” Cosette situated Victoire in Grantaire’s arms. “There, yes. And bounce her. And sing to her, children like that.”

Grantaire looked bewildered, but he did as Cosette instructed, ignoring the calls of the boys around him as he tried to quiet Victoire down. The girl eventually stopped crying, and Grantaire looked beyond relieved when she quieted. He did not put her back down, though, choosing instead to keep her safe against his chest. Enjolras tore his eyes from Grantaire, going back to ignoring the chaos around him in favor focusing on his textbook.

Thirty minutes later, all the boys, plus Cosette and Victoire, but minus Enjolras, were seated at the small kitchen table. Grantaire passed the child off to Combeferre and moved over to the armchair to shake Enjolras out of his trance.

“It’s time for dinner.” Grantaire said softly. Enjolras startled despite the quiet tone of his voice, dropping his red pen into the book. He looked up at Grantaire with surprise before looking back down at the book and nodding

“Yes, of course.” Enjolras closed his textbook, trapping the red pen inside as a bookmark, and set it on the armchair as he stood up. He followed Grantaire to the dinner table and ate in relative silence, save for fighting with Feuilly and Combeferre over some obscure topic from 19th-century France. He loudly recounted what had happened at his protest today - which apparently included him jumping on top of a car and giving a speech which he had not been prepared to make, but which, apparently, inspired the rest of the people around him to such a degree that even people who were not protesters joined him. Enjolras just seemed to have that effect on people.

Nobody stayed over that night. Cosette, Jehan, and even Joly looked as though they very much wanted to, but even they left in their time. Cosette kissed Victoire’s forehead before leaving. Enjolras just finished cleaning the counters when Grantaire lifted the child from the bouncy seat.

“Will you watch her for a little while? I want to shower.” Grantaire asked, looking from Victoire up to Enjolras hopefully. Enjolras nodded, taking the child from Grantaire’s arms and holding her gingerly. Grantaire lingered for a moment before disappearing to their bathroom. Enjolras took the child with him as he sat down on the sofa. He tried holding her in one arm and reading from his textbook with the other, but this proved to be ineffectual. The girl was squirming against him, anxious to move around, and he found he could not help her. He set the book aside and sat her in his lap as he had seen Grantaire doing earlier. She looked up at him quietly, her eyes wide and bright blue. He yawned and shifted, laying down on the sofa and letting Victoire lay on his chest. She fell asleep in a matter of moments; Enjolras wondered whether he would ever understand the natures of children. He listened closely, and could hear Grantaire singing something in the shower; he figured he would be out soon, so he closed his own eyes while he waited.

* * *

There was a warm weight being removed from his chest. Enjolras blinked and let his eyes adjust to the darkness slightly. He looked straight into Grantaire’s surprised eyes.

“I didn’t want to wake you.” Grantaire whispered. Enjolras widened his eyes and blinked again. Grantaire stepped away from him, moving carefully in order to keep Victoire still. Enjolras sat up, rubbing at the back of his head.

“Sorry. How long have I been asleep?” Enjolras asked, peering around the dark room.

“A few hours. I didn’t want to wake you,” Grantaire repeated, “but I had to move her for the night at some point.” Grantaire grinned mischievously. “I took pictures. You looked very sweet with her. Quite good for someone who doesn’t like children.”

“Yes, well.” Enjolras rubbed at his eyes and stood from the sofa. He stretched his arms above him and looked over at Grantaire, who was shuffling his feet. “What is it?”

Grantaire looked up at him like he had been caught in the act of doing something he knew was wrong. “Nothing. Bedtime. Come.”

Enjolras paused and looked Grantaire over. “You look tired. I can put her to bed.”

Grantaire’s expression shifted into one of surprise. “Are you sure?”

Enjolras moved closer, pressing a kiss to Grantaire’s forehead before taking Victoire from him. “I am sure. Go to bed.”

Grantaire hesitated, watching Enjolras and Victoire for a moment before nodding, vanishing in the direction of their bedroom. Enjolras turned around, disoriented for a moment before he spotted the travel crib that Grantaire must have set up before he woke up Enjolras. He moved over to it carefully, trying not to jostle and wake the child while also not knowing what type of movement could possibly wake her. He managed to tuck her into the crib in a safe position without her so much as opening an eye. He leaned over the crib momentarily, looking at her in the quiet darkness before he closed his eyes and ran a hand through his hair, stopping halfway through and scratching absently at the top of his scalp.

“You are going to cause me quite a few problems with Grantaire in the future, aren’t you?” Enjolras murmured in the darkness. Victoire remained sleeping even as he spoke, so he pat her stomach lightly and went into the bedroom, where Grantaire was already curled up on his side under the covers. He shucked his clothes off and climbed into bed beside him, covering them both with the blankets. Grantaire moved closer to him instinctually.

“You like children now?” Grantaire mumbled into Enjolras’ neck. Enjolras just rubbed absently at his back.

“We’ll talk about it tomorrow.” Enjolras promised. Grantaire hummed his assent and fell asleep. Enjolras followed soon after.

**Author's Note:**

> You have no idea how hard it is to keep these idiots in character.
> 
> Also, I wrote and posted this in the span of about two hours. I'm sure I'll read this tomorrow and get pissed over mistakes but, for now, that's why those mistakes are undoubtedly there.
> 
> Ooh, and, before I forget, just a heads-up: nothing ever stays this happy in my stories for very long. Just a warning. Valar Morghulis.
> 
> You can follow me on Twitter at [@nicoIodeon](https://twitter.com/nicoIodeon) or on Tumblr at [andillwriteyouatragedy](http://andillwriteyouatragedy.tumblr.com/).


End file.
